The Truth About Music's Top 5 "Glee" Songs

With Fox’s record-breaking musical comedy “Glee” coming to an end tonight, we thought it would be fun to look back at the show’s 22 episodes and pick our favorite songs. A show that clearly put the music first and the story second, “Glee” has taken over as music’s most important hour on television. Here are our favorite songs from season one.

“Keep Holding On” Originally Performed by Avril Lavigne: I know what you’re thinking. How could the shows signature song not be #1 on our list. There is a simple reason why. Unlike many of the other songs featured during this season, this song has a true meaning and struck an emotional chord unlike any other moment this year. The image of Rachel and Finn singing this song directly to Quinn during the most trying time of her life still gives me goosebumps. It is an emotional connection that makes this song #1.

“Don’t Stop Believing” Originally Performed by Journey: As fate would have it, the song that helped create hype that the television world had never seen before, will help to send the cast into the summer. With the pilot episode premiering in May of 2009, this song alone helped carry momentum all the way until the show returned in September. My anticipation level is at an all time high as the cast prepares to perform the song again at Regionals.

“Defying Gravity” Originally Performed by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth: One of the main themes of “Glee” was being accepted and in turn gaining personal confidence. The show hit an amazing note in the middle of the season pitting Kurt and Rachel against each other singing this song to win the solo. In his first solo performance of the show, Kurt ends up throwing the contest in favor of saving his father further embarrassment. Regardless of the story, this duet is possibly the greatest vocal performance the show has seen to date.

“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” Originally Performed by The Rolling Stones: There is a hero in every group. In spite of his incredible stupidity, inspired by the right people, Finn arrived at Sectionals just in time to save the day. With guidance from Will Schuester, he held the sheet music for this Rolling Stones classic which seemed to fit the groups style perfectly. The harmonies displayed in this song are amazing and this is one of my favorite arrangements with huge vocal contributions from Finn, Rachel and Mercedes.

“Jessie’s Girl” Originally Performed by Rick Springfield: The question remains. Was the character Jessie St. James introduced into the show just so Finn could eventually sing this song? Once again, the message of this song was perfect as it fit seamlessly into the convoluted love triangle between Finn, Jessie and Rachel.

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Nice list, Harris! Definitely some songs in here that I forgot about — “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” really was an awesome piece.

Btw, thanks for encouraging me to make our own Glee list. I had fun writing mine up. Looks like we only had ONE overlap–”Dancing With Myself.” Definitely tells you something–there are just too many good songs to chose from!